Ask HN: How to Bookmark Videos on YouTube?

4 points·rishikeshs··9 comments

I often watch long videos like podcasts or interviews on YouTube. Since I have turned off search history, YT usually restarts video from beginning. Is there any otherway to bookmark a particular timestamp?

View on HN

For podcasts/interviews, I like to download/extract the audio in m4a format. (yt-download is great for this.)

If you simply rename the file extension as an m4b file, Apple (iPhone) treats the file as an audio book. This gives a few immediate benefits:

- Your timestamp in the file is automatically bookmarked. If you stop in the middle of the file, the next time you open the file it starts at the same point.

- You can jump forward/back 15/30 seconds.

- You can control the playback speed: 2X, 1.5X, 0.5X, etc.

Let me try this!

Alternately, download the podcasts or interviews (yt-dlp: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) and then watch them with whatever local player you have that allows you to save a partial watch location and return to that point later.

Right click the video. Click the appropriate option. I forget what it’s labeled.

It's called "Copy video URL at current time."

I didn't know that was there. Thanks!

Wow this works

click on share and checkbox start at, that gives you a url with timestamp in it.

You can "Save" them to a (private) playlist.

But how does it solve the issue of timestamps

Reply on news.ycombinator.com